{"id":2745,"date":"2019-03-27T03:36:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T10:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veloxrugby.org\/vv\/?page_id=2745"},"modified":"2024-05-10T16:19:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T23:19:06","slug":"history-of-velox","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/history\/history-of-velox\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Velox Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Velox Rugby History Background<\/span><\/h2>\n

Written by First club President and Founding Member: Jim Hume.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the final stages it didn\u2019t take long. Just a kindly request from a son to his dad, an easy response from the old man and a meeting with a group of teenagers with an old dream of a new rugby team.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t as easy as it sounds.<\/p>\n

The teenagers had played rugby together for a couple of years with two high school championships under their belts in the name of Mount Douglas High. When not playing for the mountain men they were the heart of a James Bay Athletic junior squad, fit, well trained but unhappy playing what they called \u201cpack rugby\u201d. They were looking for a more open game with good hands, speed, and intelligent running its main feature.<\/p>\n

They met frequently to discuss the dreams then early in 1969\u00a0called a \u201cfinal decision\u201d meeting -\u2013 this time with a potential coach attending. It was to this I was asked to attend and \u201cmaybe offer some advice.\u201d No harm in that, I thought as my son Mark (Hume) and I strolled down Gordon Head Road to the home of another young rebel \u201cto hammer out a few details.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two or three hours later when we strolled home I was the president of an as yet unrecognized rugby club. And not at all sure as to how that had happened or in full understanding of what it meant.<\/p>\n

Memory is a dangerous foundation for accurate recollection of events close to 50 years past and becomes downright hazardous once you roll past 90 as I had when daughter-in-law Christel Hume commanded me to write a brief story on how the Velox-Valhallian Rugby Club came to be. Wisely, I thought I should turn to younger minds for help.<\/p>\n

I canvassed four former players who had been involved in the launch of the new club. All had been involved in the idea, three were present at the fateful meeting that elected a supportive but unsuspecting father president of a rugby club with no name, no home field, no strip, not a match ball between them \u2013 and a potential coach who wanted some essential things in place before he made a final commitment.<\/p>\n

All four could remember the meetings leading to the decisive final session. None could recall the month or year other than to note that UVic had not dismissed its student body for the summer \u201cbecause we discussed the pros and cons on campus.\u201d The three who were in attendance that evening placed the event in different locations \u2013 and each one had a different roster of people present.<\/p>\n

I wish to make it clear that you are reading MY<\/strong> memory of events. One day, maybe for a 50th<\/sup> anniversary project, the club will persuade a more fastidious historian to tell the full story. I could name two possible Velox alumni capable of finding their way through dusty newspaper files and Victoria Rugby Union records and who could track down more members of that intrepid and quite courageous original group. Alone or together they could tell a more precise and fascinating story, not just of the birth of Velox, but of its sometimes tumultuous years and of the strengthening of its sinews when it became the double V’s \u2013 Velox Valhallians.<\/p>\n

While waiting for one \u2013 or both \u2013 to volunteer, here\u2019s my version of times past and things remembered \u2013 a first chapter only.<\/p>\n

Half-a-dozen players, one innocent father and potential coach Gordie Hemmingway were present at that 1969\u00a0meeting in a house on Gordon Head Road close to the Cedar Hill X road intersection. The agenda included asking Gordie to formally commit to coaching the new team. \u201cNo problem\u201d, he said but quickly added, with expletives deleted, that a few things needed to be done before he could agree to what was being asked.<\/p>\n

Like what?<\/p>\n

Well, a team name would help, as would a field to play on. Team colours would need to be decided and provided, a few games balls would be required, a well-equipped medical chest was essential \u2013 \u201cand\u201d he said \u201cyou\u2019ll need a president to make the official application to be recognized and accepted in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was then that son Mark Hume smiled at me and said with seductive confidence: \u201cYou could do that, couldn\u2019t you Dad?\u201d The other players chorused \u201cthat would be great!\u201d and the trap was sprung. A round-baller all my life I was, suddenly, the president of a rugby club without a name, a home field, team strip, game-balls \u2013 and an essential well stocked medical kit.<\/p>\n

The next order of business was a team name. Several had been tossed around at earlier\u00a0meetings and Velox \u2013 Latin for speed \u2013 had emerged as a favourite. It appealed to Gordie, probably because it had a familiar ring to Vindex, the team of his youth. Gordie had played for Vindex in his teens and with them won three consecutive championships between 1951 and 1954. It was during those glory years that he played against the vaunted New Zealand All Blacks and scored a never to be forgotten try. Google translates Vindex as \u201cavenger\u201d or \u201cchampion\u201d. It was later made evident that Gordie played and coached Vindex style.<\/p>\n

The two or three UVic students among the new team recruits didn\u2019t have Google to click instant translations. On campus they sought advice from Latin student Susan Mayse who confirmed Velox translates to \u201cspeed\u201d but suggested it would sound stronger if incorporated in a motto. I remember Gordie asking what the motto might be and think it was Jackie Clarkson who answered \u201cVelox Omnia Vincit \u2013 Speed Conquers All\u201d. It was obviously thought best that no mention be made to Gordie of the feminine input. There was what the best of clich\u00e9s describes as a pregnant pause before Gordie barked: \u201cSpeed conquers all! Okay! But just remember, first you need the f***ing ball.\u201d It became an early team shout \u2013 and still holds true.<\/p>\n

As the meeting was breaking up I asked Gordie, if he had any advice for his rookie president. \u201cYeah, stay out of the (expletive repeated) coaching. That\u2019s my job. You just get the club everything it needs. The medical kit is important \u2013 and don\u2019t forget corner flags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds silly, but it was typical Hemmingway. His English vocabulary was basic, his rugby knowledge voluminous \u2013 and when it came to the game he commanded attention to detail.<\/p>\n

And so we began.<\/p>\n

The first game balls (first practice balls were brought to the field by players) were donated by Victoria lawyer Ian Stuart. Cash for the first uniforms \u2013 they were fragile black T-shirts good for maybe two or three games because we couldn\u2019t afford real rugby shirts \u2013 came from the players or their parents and friends who looked with kind amusement on my pathetic fund raising efforts but never failed to respond. The \u201cmedicine chest\u201d was a thing of envy among other clubs. Donated by the late Mike Griffin of M.Griffiin and stocked with everything thinkable. And the first corner and other sideline flags were of sturdy timber not the slender wand-like markers of today.<\/p>\n

Our home field was at Lambrick Park \u2013 then an emerging Saanich park with the old Lambrick Farm residence park headquarters and the original cow barn our \u2013 and visiting team \u2013 dressing rooms. There were no showers that first season of 1969-70. We were not a pleasant fixture for visiting teams and, to be honest the most loyal\u00a0 Velox players didn\u2019t enjoy the wet times when the east-west slope of the field left a two inch deep pool of water in one corner and the muddy slop of a baseball base path in the other.<\/p>\n

We almost lost Tommy Carson one Saturday afternoon when he was swarmed and buried, facedown, in \u201cthe swamp\u201d. True story and far from laughable at the time.<\/p>\n

On practice nights those of us who could afford the gas lined our cars on one side of the field headlights on high beam. I can proudly claim to have attended every practice for the first and second season, but cheerfully admit that for most I was wearing winter clothes with a flask of hot scotch not far away. And I sat in the car a lot.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember when we finally got real change rooms and showers at Lambrick, but I can remember the joyous celebration when they were finally available. We were proud to be able to send visiting teams home clean<\/p>\n

For the record we lost only two games in our first two seasons. Sadly both were provincial finals and both lost by three points. We made the provincial finals again in our third year but lost again.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the way \u2013 as I recall \u2013 it all started. Just the first few bricks in a fragile foundation which others have more than strengthened and continue to build on. I am proud to have been the first, but salute and thank those who followed: presidents, captains, players, coaches and those who never took the field of play but worked, and still work, to keep strong and alive the dreams of new generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Velox Rugby History Background Written by First club President and Founding Member: Jim Hume. In the final stages it didn\u2019t take long. Just a kindly request from a son to his dad, an easy response from the old man and a meeting with a group of teenagers with an old dream of a new rugby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":2061,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2745","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2745"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8689,"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2745\/revisions\/8689"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}